But When She Plays Juliet

 Every year

They come along

Some waif of a thing

Who’s very pretty

And plain

But plain in a pretty way

And everyone

Loses

Their mind

And the conversations start

And it’s all pageantry

It’s all a big game

Because we all know

Who the winner is

And we know

What the trophy is going to be

She’s going

To play

Juliet

They always give

Those girls

Juliet

And it doesn’t matter

That every plain waif of a girl

Has played Juliet

And that we see a new one

Every year

Because the argument is always

That it’s going to be a gamechanger

When she plays Juliet

So they let her play Juliet

And she plays it

Exactly the same way

Everybody else has played it

Because at this point

I doubt there is a different way to play it

But if there is

I don’t think it’s possible

That we’re going to get that, that--

That different idea of it

From someone who has the same look
And energy

And what have you

That every other young woman

Whose done it has

And there’s a boy version of that, yes

There’s the Hamlet version

Where the young, handsome man

Comes along

And there are discussions

And then we have him play Hamlet

And people say it’s the definitive Hamlet

And then a year later

Someone else does it

And then that’s the definitive version

And it’s all, to me

It’s all about us

Wanting to feel special

To feel that

We’re seeing

Something special

That we were alive

For something special

And of course, we are

But you can’t make that happen

You can’t make magic happen

It just happens

And it doesn’t happen

By doing the same thing

Year after year

And not acknowledging

That the same things

Are exciting the same people

Who are in charge

Of creation

We need to swap

Those people out

And then maybe

We’ll get more magic

But we can’t get there

When the process

Of what we do

Or don’t do

Is decided

By people

Who are excited

Only

Exclusively

By attractive

Young people

Playing the same roles

Attractive young people

Have played

For hundreds

Of years

I have to hear it

Every year

But when she plays Juliet--

And it’s not fair

To the poor girl

It’s not fair to her

Because once she can no longer play Juliet

That’s it for her

They only let you be Juliet

They don’t let you--

They don’t let you

Be anything else

And that’s the worst part, I think

I think that might be

The worst part

About it